They were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
ADVERTISEMENTThe women-led protests in Iran -- sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini after she was stopped by the morality police -- entered their sixth week on Sunday.
University students across the country braved a military crackdown to challenge the government – in defiance of the gender segregation rules of the Islamic Republic.
In footage posted on social media, protesters in the city of Dezful in Khuzestan province set up barricades by burning car tyres and garbage containers and removing road signs, while security forces intervened with tear gas and batons.
Demonstrators marched with slogans on the streets and avenues while car drivers honked their horns in support.
Following calls by Ahvaz National Steel Group employees for the release of more than 250 detained workers, demonstrators gathered in the city square, chanting "We will fight, we will die, we will take back Iran" and reacting against the government.
Demonstrations in the US and Europe
Meanwhile, there have been solidarity protests including one in Washington DC where thousands of people, many of them Iranian, marched chanting "Justice for Iran" and carrying banners that read "Women, Life, Freedom".
One protester present said "my brothers and sister back [are] in Iran. They are on the streets; they are fighting for their life. I'm in a free country and this is my obligation to talk."
Several hundred protesters wearing the green, white and red colours of the Iranian flag chanted on the National Mall, ahead of a march to the White House.
The MEK later fled to Iraq and backed dictator Saddam Hussein during his bloody eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s, leading many people in Iran to oppose the group.
The MEK began as a Marxist group opposing the rule of the former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Similar protests took place across the globe – with an estimated 80,000 people marching in the German capital of Berlin on Saturday.
Iran's anti-government protests were first sparked after the death of Mahsa Amini, who died days after she was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly not abiding by the mandatory hijab-covering dress code